Iwoca introduces open banking-powered instant decisions for SME loans

Alternative lender Iwoca is rolling out instant decisions for loans up to £25,000 with the help of European credit information provider CRIF.

The technology enables SMEs who have signed up for CRIF’s open banking-powered Credit Passport service to pre-populate their applications and securely share their financial information.

With CRIF's help, an application can now be made in just 1 minute, with decisions made instantly thereafter.

For larger loan sizes of up to £500,000, decisions will be made within 24 hours, again a vast improvement from before.

Iwoca says the speed is due to it being able to draw on the most up-to-date financial information from each applicant, rather than submitted documentation that might already be out of date.

“Our partnership with CRIF will help us make instant finance a reality for thousands of SMEs, offering them a quicker, more transparent and reliable way to apply for and secure lending,” said Harry Cranfield, partner channel manager at Iwoca.

“The current lending market poses big challenges to SMEs trying to find capital during an economic downturn. As banks retrench – and narrow their financing options for small businesses – it’s become all the more important that alternative lenders can step in.”

Iwoca has been championing open banking for small businesses for quite some time know, with CEO Christoph Rieche telling AltFi last year that he saw the potential to dramatically improve the lending experience.